Editing London boroughs (section)

=== Shared services ===
[[Shared services]] are borough council services shared between two or more boroughs. Shared services were previously resisted due to councils guarding their authority. However, as the need for budget cuts in the late 2000s became apparent some councils have sought service mergers.<ref>Jane Dudman (20 October 2010) [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/oct/20/public-service-cuts-back-office Public sector cuts will not hit 'back office' hardest], ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref> Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham were due to merge their education services, including school admissions and transport, by 2011.<ref>Jaimie Kaffash (7 July 2010) [http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2010/07/london-boroughs-to-share-education-services/ London boroughs to share education services], Public Finance</ref> In October 2010, [[Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council|Hammersmith & Fulham]], [[Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council|Kensington & Chelsea]] and [[Westminster City Council|Westminster]] announced [[Tri-borough shared services|plans to merge all their services]] to create a "super-council". Each would retain its own political identity, leadership and councillors but staff and budgets would be combined for cost savings.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11603545 Pickles backs plan to merge Tory councils], BBC News, 22 October 2010</ref> Lambeth and Southwark likewise expressed an interest in sharing services.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4456 |title=Lambeth and Southwark councils to merge some services under Labour plan |website=London-se1.co.uk |access-date=22 December 2017 }}</ref>

The management thinker and inventor of [[the Vanguard Method]], Professor [[John Seddon]], claims that shared service projects based on attempts to achieve [[economies of scale]] are a mix of a) the plausibly obvious and b) a little hard data{{clarify|date=May 2015}}, brought together to produce two broad assertions, for which there is little hard factual evidence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thesystemsthinkingreview.co.uk/index.php?pg=18&utwkstoryid=266 |title=Why do we believe in economy of scale? |access-date=6 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008081545/http://www.thesystemsthinkingreview.co.uk/index.php?pg=18&utwkstoryid=266 |archive-date=8 October 2011  }}</ref> He argues that shared service projects fail (and often end up costing more than they hoped to save) because they cause a disruption to the service flow by moving the work to a central location, creating waste in hand-offs, rework and duplication, lengthening the time it takes to deliver a service and consequently creating [[failure demand]] (demand caused by a failure to do something or do something right for a customer).<ref>Systems Thinking in the Public Sector, John Seddon, Page 57.</ref> Seddon referred directly to the so-called [[tri-borough shared services]] in an article in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2012/07/shared-illusions/ |title=Shared illusions &#124; Public Finance Opinion |access-date = 13 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130421042212/http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2012/07/shared-illusions/ |archive-date = 21 April 2013  }}</ref>